


Meetcute

by thinkpink



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Drinking, JuLance Challenge 2018, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-02
Updated: 2018-07-02
Packaged: 2019-06-01 11:28:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15142097
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thinkpink/pseuds/thinkpink
Summary: A terrible blind date and a missing cat.





	Meetcute

**Author's Note:**

> Alright it's the 2nd so I dropped the ball but I'm gonna try and get something else out today as well to even it up. 
> 
> First #JuLance entry and I wrote it from Keith's POV #facepalm - why am I like this

“I hate you so fucking much.”

“I take it the date didn’t go well?” Shiro’s voice sounded apologetic, if unsurprised. 

Keith closed his refrigerator door with a slam, bottle tinkling together at the movement. He used the edge of the counter to pop the cap off his beer one handed and clutched his cellphone against his ear with the other.

“In what world did you think I would like that guy?” He drained half the beer in one go.

Shiro held up his hands in defense, despite the fact that Keith couldn’t see them. “He’s nice! He’s well dressed, all the girls in my office think he’s cute.”

“First off, I’m not a girl,” Keith informed him, Shiro began to protest but Keith cut him off. “Secondly, we have absolutely nothing in common. Third, well dressed?”

“Oh, right and you’re one to talk about clothes,” the older man scoffed.

“What the-“ Keith protested, gearing up for an argument, when Shiro cut him off.

“Anyway, you have plenty in common with Mark, you’re both into movies and comics and nerdy stuff like that. You both ride motorcycles, you’re both from Texas!” 

“You set me up with that guy because he’s the only other gay guy you know, admit it.” 

Shiro squawked, “What! I literally just listed things you have in common!”

“That’s all bullshit stuff, everyone like movies and comic books, he rides a _Ducati,_ and Texas is bigger than Germany, who isn’t from Texas!” Keith finished his beer and opened the fridge to grab another, grimacing when he realized it was the last one.

“What’s wrong with Ducatis?” Shiro ask, confused.

“I have Harleys, Shiro, keep up.” Keith continued to look through his kitchen, positive there was something else to drink, rolling his eyes when he unearthed a bottle of UV Blue Vodka, _fucking Shiro,_ when there was a knock at his door. 

“I hope you weren’t rude to him Keith, I have to work with Mark,” Shiro lectured, choosing to ignore Keith’s cryptic comment about motorcycles. “He’s a nice guy, and yeah, he’s good looking, even I can see that.”

Keith rolled his eyes, cracking open the bottle and sniffing the contents. He shuddered but threw back a shot anyway and was mildly surprised when it wasn’t half bad. There was another knock at his door, this time slightly faster.

Shiro was still talking about the merits of Mark, apparent office hottie – only because Shiro was too naïve to realize _he_ was the office hottie – as Keith walked softly towards the door, trying to disguise his footsteps. 

“-brought in homemade muffins when Lenore had a baby and I’m not exaggerating when I say, they were the best muffins I’ve ever tasted,” Keith continued to ignore his friend, leaning his face an inch from the door to look out the peep hole. 

He barely got a glimpse of the tall, tan man standing in the hallway when there was another series of knocks on the door, startling him backwards a step.

“Hello?” A slightly high-pitched voice asked through the door. “I know you’re in there, I could hear the cabinets banging around.”

Keith made a face, _uh creeper,_ when the voice continued. “I’m just looking for my cat! Have you seen her?” 

“Is somebody there?” Shiro asked him, jolting Keith, who had tuned him out enough to not realize he’d stopped talking. 

“There’s someone at my door,” he whispered back. “He’s looking for his cat.”

“Aww,” Shiro cried, “Go help him look!”

“I’m not going to go search for some dude’s cat!” His voice raised, apparently enough for the guy outside to hear because he made a scoffing noise.

“If you haven’t seen her you could just say, jeez.” 

Keith leaned back to the peep hole, quick enough to see bright blue eyes and sharp cheek bones before the man turned to walk away.

“Oh shit, he’s cute,” Keith whispered again.

“Well what are you waiting for, go help him!” Shiro urged, voice excited. 

Keith blushed, realizing what he’d said aloud. “Fine, bye.” He hung up suddenly before yanking open the door. 

“Wait!”

At his shout the mystery man turned, look of annoyance bleeding into surprise.

“Uh, what’s it look like? Your cat?” Keith struggled to make words.

“Her. She’s a blue British Shorthair.” His voice was kind of musical, high and clear. He was also wearing extremely fitted leggings, _tights?_ and no socks or shoes, but oddly, white tape wrapped around the balls of his feet.

At the confusion on Keith’s face the stranger continued. “Oh uhm, kind of rounder face than most cats. Smokey grey fur.”

Keith tore his face away from the other man’s feet, he could see a glinting of silver on some of the toes, _toe rings?_ and found himself saying, “I can help?”

“You’ve seen her?” The blue eyes got excited.

“Oh no,” Keith backpedaled, “But I can help you look?”

The man started to walk to closer to him, and Keith tried to make himself look casual as he continued to check him out. He had dark eye liner smudged around his eyes and bluish glitter across his defined cheekbones. 

“I’m Lance,” the man told him, pulling his hand out of his oversized sweater to reach over and shake Keith’s. 

Keith was uncomfortably aware of his own outfit, tight black jeans and a red short-sleeve button down. It had seemed acceptable, attractive even, when he’d been dressing for his date, but in the face of Lance’s... everything, he felt underdressed. 

“Keith,” he managed, grabbing Lance’s hand. It was strong and callused, which was surprising, since the other man seemed sort of thin and willowy.

“I just moved in down the hall. I was taking a break from unpacking, but I guess I left the door open and Azul got out.” He frowned, and Keith felt his stomach flip. “I don’t think she’s handling the move well.”

“Cats don’t really like change,” Keith told him, as they began to walk down the hall. “Uh, from what I understand.”

“Yeah well, she hated my boyfriend, so I thought she’d be excited that we were moving out of his place but noooo, she’s still gotta make a fuss,” Lance rambled, looking back and forth as they walked, as if the apartment building’s hallway was huge and not three feet across. “I haven’t even unpacked the cat treats so I can’t bribe her, she normally only comes when I shake the bottle or-“ 

Lance looked up to find Keith staring at him, wide-eyed.

“Oh God, sorry,” he laughed embarrassedly, “I’m an over sharer. My friend Hunk calls it verbal vomit.”

At Keith’s silence, Lance blushed and asked, “Uhm, do you have a cat?” 

“Oh, uh, no I don’t, but my best friend Shiro does and I babysit him sometimes when he goes out of town. His name is Gomez.” Keith felt his cheeks pink, _is verbal vomit contagious?_ That was probably more info than he’d shared on his entire date earlier.

“Gomez? That’s so cute.” They continued to walk, turning through the figure eight that the hallways formed. 

“Yeah like, uh the Addams family? It’s a black cat.”

Lance _squealed,_ “That’s even cuter!”

Keith couldn’t help but smile at the other man, his warm expression was weirdly catching. “His girlfriend has a pug named Pugsley. It’s crazy fat.”

“It’s official, I love your friends.” Lance grinned at him and Keith felt his face warm even more. Lance noticed this, and his grin grew brighter.

Just then they heard a pitiful meow, and both men paused, listening.

“I think it came from up here, come on!” Lance reached down to grab his hand and they ran down the hall together. Keith prayed that his palm wasn’t sweaty.

They turned a corner to find a grey cat huddled in the corner, eyes huge and tail puffed.

“Azula!” Lance cried, rushing forward to scoop the cat up. He flipped the cat upside down to hold against his chest like a baby. Keith squinted his eyes, bracing himself for the cat’s ire but amazingly, the animal began to purr loudly, pressing as close to Lance as possible. 

“Whoa, Gomez would scratch my eyes out if I did that.” Keith walked closer, still wary, but intrigued. 

“Azul is my baby! She loves to be cuddled, _don’t you Azula, yes you do!”_ The cat ate it up, purring even louder. 

“Azula? Like Avatar, the Last Air Bender?” Keith asked, before he could stop himself.

“Oh my God, Keith, you are like only the second person to ask that!” Lance beamed at him and began walking back the way they’d come. Keith followed without thought.

“It’s kind of a play on words, cause azul means blue in Spanish and she’s a blue, even though she’s grey, that’s just, like, the way they describe cats. But also, Azula is in arguably the best villain in Avatar and I totally had a crush on her when I was a kid.” He laughed, looking at Keith, “And don’t even judge me for having a crush on a cartoon, I’ve heard it enough.”

Keith was coming to realize that he would happily listen to Lance babble all day without saying a word, but he threw in his two cents, “I’m an animator, so I’m definitely not going to judge that. Pretty sure my crush on Captain America is why I went to art school.”

“Oh my God, shut up! That’s so cool!” He stopped outside of a door where loud music was coming from.

“It’s really not, I mostly do independent stuff no one has seen. Is this your place?” He gestured behind Lance who nodded.

“Well I want to see them so be prepared for that.” He reached behind himself to open the door, “Will you come in? I totally owe you for helping me find Azul. I can order pizza?”

Keith brushed his hand over the back of his neck, he’d literally just eaten dinner but for some reason couldn’t seem to tell Lance that, “Uh sure! You don’t have to order pizza though, I just-“

“I’m ordering pizza, you’re not stopping me, I’ve literally got zero food in my fridge anyway, nothing but Perrier and Corona. Do you like beer? I could probably scrounge up a lime,” he was still talking as he pulled Keith into his apartment.

The music was coming from a speaker sitting on top of a cardboard box, one of many scattered about the studio, a sort of bouncy electronic without words.

There was a half-assembled bed shoved in one corner, but despite the lack of other furniture and the obvious barely-started unpacking, one wall was already covered in mirrors, a long hand rail running over the middle that was screwed into either wall.

Lance dropped his cat in the middle of the floor, who immediately jumped in the nearest open box, before opening his fridge and pulling out the case of beer. He looked helplessly around the kitchenette before shrugging to Keith, “Alright that’s a never mind on the lime. I wouldn’t even know where to start.” 

He popped the cap off using the ring on his right hand, before handing it to Keith and opening a second. Keith accepted it and gestured to the mirrors, “Did you put these in?”

Despite how close their apartments were, the layout was vastly different. Keith had a single bedroom with a separate kitchen and bathroom, a washer and dryer in their own room as well. His balcony was big enough for two seats and a small table. Lance’s apartment was large, but it was sprawling and open, a studio with only one door opening to, presumably, the bathroom. The back wall was lined with windows that were all cracked open. 

“Yeah, I always install my mirrors first when I move somewhere new, since I need them for practice. Hopefully this is the last time I have to install them for a long time! Never move in with your casual boyfriend because your own lease is up, and they’ve got a better apartment, lesson learrrrned,” he rolled his eyes skyward.

“Uh, definitely won’t,” Keith’s eyes were wide, “What kind of practice?”

“Oh!” Lance stood straighter, sliding his feet into third position before lifting one leg straight to the side then up, up, up until his legs were completely straight and perpendicular to the floor. His tights strained over the crotch and Keith fought not to look. “Dance! And some floor routines, tumbling, ya know?”

“Ahh,” Keith struggled to come up with something to say that wasn’t a comment on Lance’s muscular thighs or ridiculously impressive flexibility. “I’ve never lived with a boyfriend.”

_Why? Why Keith? Why must you open your mouth?_

“Oh,” Lance laughed and finally, _finally,_ lowered his foot back to the floor. “Well you sound smart. I, on the other hand, like to _rush into things.”_

He held his fingers up in air quotes. 

“That’s according to my friend Pidge. And also my ex-girlfriend and also my mom.” He laughed, waving his hand as if it didn’t bother him at all. 

“My friend Shiro says I don’t put myself out there enough, so maybe you’re in the right here.” Keith made a face, “And I don’t know why I just told you that.” He chugged his beer to stop himself from saying anything else.

Lance grinned, “Gomez’s dad? He sounds wise. But wrong! I mean, here you are right now, standing in my apartment, _putting yourself out there.”_

Keith choked on his drink, coughing. “Uh, I mean…” He looked around, as if he could pull words from the air.

Lance took pity, “You seem like the kind of guy who doesn’t flirt a lot.” He stepped closer, “And I figured that out before you told me what your friend said. So, I’m just gonna throw it out there, and let you know that’s what we’re doing.”

“Flirting?” Keith looked pained.

“Well I don’t just pop a standing split for anyone,” he laughed and winked, his feet automatically moving into second position without thought.

Keith looked down, his gaze once more captured by the silver toe ring, before looking up to find Lance standing much closer than he’d realized. 

“Oh,” he said, smartly. 

Lance took his lack of response for disinterest, his smile dimming slightly, and began to step back, “I mean, I flirt with everyone so it doesn’t hav-“

Keith’s stomach was gripped painfully as he watched Lance step away, so he quickly reached out, grabbing his hand. He laced his fingers with Lance’s long thin ones immediately.

“No, I like it,” he said quickly. 

Lance’s eyes widened slightly before his grin was back, “Oh, good. That’s good.”

Keith smiled back, before he made a face, “Wait, what did you mean by _everyone?”_

Lance spun away suddenly, “Oh, about that pizza! Let me just grab my phone!”

**Author's Note:**

> [come say hi to me on my tumblr :)](http://thinkpinkwrites.tumblr.com)


End file.
